At least 12 people were killed and at least 50 were injured when a masked gunman reportedly kicked open an exit door and opened fire during a midnight showing of the Dark Knight Rises at a mall in Aurora, Colo. Aurora police chief Dan Oates said that 10 died during the attack, and two more died in area hospitals.

Police and witness reports indicate that a gunman fired into the audience 15 minutes into the midnight showing of the film. Police confirmed that the shooter — who entered theater number 9 dressed all in black and wearing a gas mask and released a canister filled with gas — fired a rifle multiple times into the audience. Speaking on the Today show, one witness described the suspect as wearing a SWAT-like outfit. Several children, including a three-month-old and a six-year-old girl, were among those treated at nearby hospitals, according to reports.

Federal law enforcement officers identified the shooter as 24-year-old James Holmes. He was captured by police in a back parking lot and was taken into custody. Authorities are saying that it appears this suspect acted alone. Police, however, are still scouring the immediate area and other local movie theaters for any possible accomplices. A Colo. bomb squad was also called to check reports that an explosion occurred within the movie theater, and to investigate a suspicious vehicle parked outside of the cinema.

At a Friday morning campaign rally in Fort Myers, Fla., President Obama put aside his planned campaign appearance. “There will be other days for politics,” he told the crowd. “This is a day for prayer and reflection.” The president had released a statement earlier in the morning. “Michelle and I are shocked and saddened by the horrific and tragic shooting in Colorado,” he said. “As we do when confronted by moments of darkness and challenge, we must now come together as one American family.”

At an early morning press conference, Oates said his officers found the gunman with a mask, a rifle and a handgun by a car behind the theater — at least two more weapons, an assault weapon and another handgun, were found inside the man’s vehicle. “He did not resist. He did not put up a fight,” Frank Fania, a police spokesman told CNN.

The police chief added that the suspect told officers after being taken into custody that there may be explosives in his apartment. Oates told reporters that authorities had evacuated a complex in North Aurora, a three-story brick apartment complex at East 17th Avenue and Peoria Street in Aurora, located about four miles from the movie theater, according to 9News.

Witnesses say that the bullets went through the wall from the theater where the shooting took place and hit several victims in an adjacent Dark Knight midnight showing. “We just heard a pop, pop, pop, pop,” Quentin Caldwell, who was attending the Batman showing in an adjacent theater, told CNN. The shooting happened at about 12:30 a.m. at the Town Center in Aurora at the Century 16 theater on East Alameda Avenue, according to KCNC. Theater 9 has a capacity of around 300 people.

Warner Brothers, the studio which created the Dark Knight film, issued a statement Friday morning: “Warner Bros. is deeply saddened to learn about this shocking incident. We extend our sincere sympathies to the families and loved ones of the victims at this tragic time.” Warner Brothers, (who like TIME, is owned by Time Warner), also decided to cancel the Friday evening Paris premiere of The Dark Knight Rises,The Hollywood Reporter notes.

U.S. Representative Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), who represents Aurora, also issued a statement Friday morning: “Colorado is not a violent place, but we have some violent people. We are a strong and resilient community, and we will lean on each other in the days, weeks and months to come.”

Children’s Hospital of Denver told Denver 9NEWS that they are caring for six victims, and that their youngest is a six-year-old who was struck by a bullet. Many witness reports have said that they saw a baby which had been hit, and University Hospital confirmed to 9NEWS that their youngest shooting victim is 3 months old. The child’s condition is not known at this time.

I frankly don't understand the US as a nation, even though having best defense forces to protect them, it's citizens want the right to hold firearms, which eventually are used by a lunatic to kill innocent ppl, it's leaders and people conveniently forget God and Religion until tragedy strikes, and then merrily repeat the same cycle until the next lunatic goes on rampage. The US spends billions on the 'war on terror' around the world, but I am sure more US citizens were killed because of it's own policies at home.

Ppl who think gun control fixes this are living in a dream world. Get over that ridiculous notion, guns will be gotten by anyone who wants one for good or bad regardless of the law. Good lord it is illegal to drive drunk amp; look at how well thats working out! One of the best deterrents in these cases is the conceal amp; carry law. Ppl who know precisely how to use a firearm are allowed to carry it in public, discretely. Had just one person in that theatre been armed LEGALLY this WOULD have been an entirely different ordeal. To the families of the victims, my deepest sympathies.

Guns are already quite available (obviously), and the argument is that IF other people had guns (because gun ownership is not regulated), THEN these incidents would be stopped. But guns ARE available and yet these incidents DO happen WITHOUT any citizens shooting back.

So either the argument is proved false because the vast majority of shootings go unopposed, or else you are suggesting that gun ownership should not only be legal, but it should be MANDATED or at least strongly encouraged that every gun owner pack heat wherever he goes, just in case.

Apparently the part about if by chance, one person possessed a CCW amp; was in that theatre with a firearm at that dreadful time, yes I am saying this would have been an entirely different story. Something about your response tells me that if the shooter was shot dead before he killed some one else, right now you would be screaming for his head. Yes sir 1 answer is, more educated, law abiding citizens with firearms training, in amp; amongst folks that are ok with becoming a victim will be a deterrent once more criminals realize that more amp; more ordinary people are armed. Subject: [newsfeed] Re: Shooting Rampage atDark KnightShowing in Colo.; 10 Dead

How about this for gun control- hitting your target w/one shot- if just one person in that theatre had his or her permit to carry a concealed weapon amp; knew how to use it. The death toll WOULD have been 1 or 2 MAYBE. Thats the kind of gun control needed in this country.

I can't believe this discussion is focusing on the fact that someone brought a 3 m.o. baby to the theater - the baby didn't cause the the damage, it's the stupid gun laws in this country!

Nowhere in the world there are regular massacres like in USA - when are you going to wake up and do something about it? When YOUR KIDS are killed senselessly by a nut who can get a gun easier than he can get a driver's license?

Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, your Word does speak of evil abounding in the end time / last days; but it's also written because of your love for the world you sent your Son to seek and save the spiritually lost. Jesus you were born in the earth, taught God's way, died, shed your blood, was buried, and rose from the dead; and ascended. You did all of this to save humanity. I pray that you continue to move by the power of your Spirit on the hearts and minds of the people of the earth to open them to hear and understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ, so they can be healed, set free from sin, delivered; have peace with God. All those who hear, believe, accept and come to you can be restored and reconciled to God. They can be delivered from the kingdom of darkness and brought into the Kingdom of light. They have an escape from the corruption that is in the world, it is written.

I pray for complete recovery for all those still alive from this horrible situation. I pray for comfort, peace, and strength for the families of the deceased.

Have mercy LORD, may your grace protect us daily; and may your perfect divine will be done in the earth as it is done in heaven. In Jesus's name. Amen.

Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, your Word does speak of evil abounding in the end time / last days; but it's also written because of your love for the world you sent your Son to seek and save the spiritually lost. Jesus you were born in the earth, taught God's way, died, shed your blood, was buried, and rose from the dead; and ascended. You did all of this to save humanity. I pray that you continue to move by the power of your Spirit on the hearts and minds of the people of the earth to open them to hear and understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ, so they can be healed, set free from sin, delivered; have peace with God. All those who hear, believe, accept and come to you can be restored and reconciled to God. They can be delivered from the kingdom of darkness and brought into the Kingdom of light. They have an escape from the corruption that is in the world, it is written.

I pray for complete recovery for all those still alive from this horrible situation. I pray for comfort, peace, and strength for the families of the deceased.

Have mercy LORD, may your grace protect us daily; and may your perfect divine will be done in the earth as it is done in heaven. In Jesus's name. Amen.

Hey @facebook-100001518753572:disqus we have to count Chuck E Cheeses out too. Just found out there was a massacre there already and would you believe it, in Colo. I guess parents are really just running out of places to take the kids without them becoming the focus of target practice.

*I don't wish to offend anyone who has lost a loved one to this tragedy or any other gun violence so my apologies in advance.

In a world filled with villains yet so few superheroes, and now fantastical alter-ego (yes he believed he was Batman's enemy, the Joker) what are we to make of this scene? Did Holmes intend to copy cat literally the Batman reality, turn the Hollywood fantasy into some sort of lurid hyper reality?

Until then, in a world that is filled with media and entertainment that seems SO REAL, how can one identify and separate the two? How can we even come to terms with someone who has decided to violently re calibrate what we always understood to be artful make believe....?

You want to have a positive impact, to make a difference with this drastic and costly negative in our society? Then I guess we need to recognize it as a real problem within our society and while not having to take responsibility for the problem, knowing we didn't cause it, to take some responsibility for addressing the problem ... gun control won't do that as that is just a political cop-out. I suspect it is reasonable to assume that in each of these cases the perpetrators felt alienated from society, basically alone and not considered, unfairly left out, or however you want to describe it, and then they felt the need to strike out, hoping for the attention they felt society owed them and to really just show society. The only way to impact that is to have organizations and programs throughout society that compassionately and privately reach out to identify, understand and help. These people are not totally isolated and invisible; they have interactions, even if just few, show signs and do reach out - that is their nature.We can continue to just chastise those with the problem, correctly feeling we are not at fault and shouldn't have the expense taken from our resources, and then we can just continue to live with these catastrophes and with always fruitlessly discussing gun control. Society has to take responsibility for it's problems and not just for offering opportunity for the successful to have substantial gains - and that isn't being "liberaL', it is being self-servingly wise. A cooperative society that serves the needs of all of it's people far out produces a competitive society that just caters to "the few". When we help those with needs and bring them up to a higher productive level, we then help all of society, making the total more productive and even producing profits for "the few".

Gun control is NOT a political opt-out. It is the ROOT cause of these horrendous atrocities occurring everyday places. People without access to semi-automatic rifles, assault weapons and glock pistols do not walk into a public place and kill people, rather they CAN'T!

It is clear that despite the 2nd Amendment, we Americans are not mature enough to bear arms. When is the gun lobby going to allow laws that limit the possession of fire arms in order to force maturity on the immature?

Rick, your implication that the gun lobby is mature is wildly off-track. The NRA does not operate on a moral compass. Unless the american people take a stand on gun control, ain't nothing gonna happen.

I never want to appear to defend the NRA and completely disagree on just about everything they lobby for, but I would hope they are as moral as everybody else. It is just their vision of just gun laws are different but arrived at in good faith. If we start with this belief then maybe we can find common ground. Call me Pollyanna-ish

Just yesterday an armed 71 year old man sent two armed criminals in the commission of an armed robbery scrambling for the door, when he opened fire on them. You won't see much about this in the main stream media however, they don't widely publish stories that portray an armed citizenry in a favorable light. Google Internet Cafe Shooting...

When tragedy such as what happened in Colorado occurs, could we please leave politics out of it 24 hours before idiots start politicizing this. Is there no heart left in this world for the victims and their families? Apparently not, the editor of this magazine, Michael Grunwald seems to think it is ok to seek a political agenda from the blood of the innocent. “I feel terrible about what happened in that movie theater, and I’m

agnostic about gun control, but there is nothing wrong with politicizing

And yet the NRA lobby and their gun-crazy minions continue to resist any attempts at gun control! How they are able to sleep at night with a clean conscience is beyond me. Even American people are as guilty as the shooter for they will not forego their so called gun carrying rights even as their sons, daughters, husbands, wives and friends have to pay the price with their lives. Why the F**K would someone need a gun?!!! This aint the f***king wild west where your life is in danger!

OK this isn't the point of the article and I hope this kid gets lots of special friends in prison before he gets the needle, but, what in the hell was a 3 month old baby doing at a freaking midnight show of a stupid movie?!

When I had my kid I didn't see a movie in a theater for 5 years; until he was old enough to deal with it. Too many people think that they are entitled to behave the same way after spawning as they did before.

Your parenting sucks. Your kids should have some sense of self control before five (when they should already be enrolled in school). What couldn't your child "handle" until five? Lights, an occasional loud sound, darkness, people? Just curious. In that case don't bring the little wuss. Toss around that 'entitlement' word again "you people" haven't used it enough already the past several months-years. Ugh! Who the he77 spawns? I had really good sex with my spouse to have the doll babies we planned on having and now enjoy. Oh and they can sit through movies and behave, or else we wouldn't have payed for those over priced movie tickets and all that over priced junk food. We would have stayed home or went to lego-land, chuck-e-cheese etc.